Small Plane Crashes Near The Boca Inlet

May 15, 2000|By LEON FOOKSMAN Staff Writer

BOCA RATON — After its engine failed, a two-seat plane on Sunday crashed and flipped over on an empty beach near the Boca Inlet. The pilot and his passenger suffered small cuts, but walked away from the crash.

No one else was injured when the yellow Piper J3 plane flown by Ron Stuke, of west Boynton Beach, went down behind the Chalfonte condominium building at 500 S. Ocean Blvd., police said.

Stuke said he and his passenger Wilma Stenger, also of west Boynton Beach, were headed south along the beach when the engine stalled. He then turned the plane north, glided for a while and crashed on the beach.

The impact tossed the plane upside down, pinning Stuke and Stenger. A jogger, Robert Adamson, helped to free them before police and paramedics arrived.

When he got to the plane, Adamson said, he saw Stuke bleeding from his head and Stenger appearing disoriented. He said he carried Stenger to the shade.

"We're a bit scraped and shook up, but we're all right," said Stuke, who had sand on his forehead and arms as a paramedic examined him.

The plane flew about 10 feet over the heads of dozens of beachgoers before crashing about a fifth of a mile to the north of where they were , Adamson said.

Stuke said he took off from a private airstrip in the Willis Glider Port community in west Boynton Beach and planned to return there after a routine flight along the coast. The plane lost one of its wheels in the crash, and its wings were damaged.

Leon Fooksman can be reached at lfooksman@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6647.